It should come as little surprise to hear that Indonesia is Australia’s most important wheat export market. Accounting for nearly one-quarter of all wheat exports, there is clear daylight between Indonesia and our other wheat export markets. Less well-known is the fact that our neighbours to the north are poised to play an even bigger role in our wheat export program.

AEGIC, the Australian Oilseed Federation, CSIRO and the Australian Government have collaborated tosecure the lucrative EU canola market. The low emissions from Australian production of canola are an important marketing advantage that helps provide a price premium from which Australian exporters and producers of canola benefit.

Flexibility is a critical factor for overcoming disparities of size or brute strength between you and your competition. In fact, just recognising this disparity is half the battle, with many a graveyard full of those who failed to recognise that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea after all to challenge anyone nicknamed “Brutus” to an MMA-style prison yard cage fight.

Almost 30 years ago, the Bureau of Meteorology presented its projections of future climate for the south-west of Western Australia. Observations of climate since then have confirmed the accuracy of their projection...

Projected economic development in the region will see a continuing rise in incomes, higher populations and more people moving to urban areas. Less well known is that consumer buying habits in the region are likely to change, with a gradual shift from staples like cereals to protein based diets.

Wheat is an ancient grain. We’ve found many uses for it. We use it for foods like bread, noodles, pasta, cakes and biscuits. We need to retain some of it as seed. It’s used as an animal feed and we use it in industrial processes such as manufacturing ethanol. With so many different potential uses the strategic question facing wheat industries around the globe becomes: what sorts of wheat are best to grow?

While the drive towards efficient export supply chains is ongoing, the potential rate of improvement in Australian efficiency should really be considered relative to those supply chains in other origins of grain exports.

Agriculture is often viewed as a conservative, slow-moving sector with not much productivity upside. However, the most recent evidence from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) points to a recent global uplift in agricultural productivity; an uplift also enjoyed by Australian agriculture.